NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, APRIL 9
A 48-year-old man died of coronavirus in Ahmedabad, taking the death toll due to the disease in Gujarat to 17, an official said on Thursday.
The man was also suffering from co-morbid conditions, including high blood pressure, principal secretary, (health) Jayanti Ravi said.
Good luck for this unprecedented INTENSIVE SURVEILLANCE effort.
👍👍Remember
Hard work pays. ALWAYS
Keep everyone in your team motivated. https://t.co/v7PTQmkF9v
— Vijay Nehra (@vnehra) April 9, 2020
He died in the morning at SVP Hospital in Ahmedabad.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat has risen to 241 with 55 new cases being found in the last 12 hours, Ravil said.
ગુજરાતના ૬૦ લાખથી વધુ APL-1 રેશનકાર્ડ ધરાવતા મધ્યમવર્ગીય પરિવારો એટલે કે લગભગ ર.પ૦ થી ૩ કરોડ લોકોના વિશાળ હિતમાં રાજ્ય સરકારનો અભૂતપૂર્વ નિર્ણય. pic.twitter.com/KcFQYTmojl
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) April 9, 2020
Out of the 55 new cases, 50 are from Ahmedabad, two from Surat, and one each from Dahod, Anand, and Chhotaudepur district, she said.
Ahmedabad has so far reported 133 cases out of the total 241.
મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી વિજયભાઈ રૂપાણીએ નાયબ મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી નીતિન ભાઈ પટેલ અને ગૃહ રાજ્ય મંત્રી શ્રી પ્રદીપસિંહ જાડેજાની ઉપસ્થિતિમાં વર્તમાન કોરોના વાયરસની સ્થિતિની સમીક્ષા અંગે ઉચ્ચ કક્ષાની બેઠક કરી હતી. pic.twitter.com/pJ15njTG9E
— Gujarat Information (@InfoGujarat) April 9, 2020
Meanwhile, due to the mass testing in Ahmedabad, 50 new cases have surfaced in Ahmedabad. In the last five days, 57 people were tested for coronavirus in Ahmedabad on April 4, 166 on April 5, 408 on April 6, 638 on April 7 and 840 on April 8, as a result of which, 50 more coronavirus cases have emerged in the city. Authorities said this aggressive testing strategy has been adopted now which will help in detecting suspected COVID-19 cases.
વિવિધ જિલ્લા કલેકટર કચેરીઓમાં જે-તે જિલ્લાના પ્રતિષ્ઠિત ખાનગી તબીબો ઉપસ્થિત રહીને ત્યાંથી આ વીડિયો કોન્ફરન્સમાં જોડાયા હતા.
— Gujarat Information (@InfoGujarat) April 9, 2020
The sudden spike in the number of new cases is due to the intensive surveillance in areas that have been declared as ‘hotspots’ in Ahmedabad and other major cities of Gujarat, principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi said.
#गुजरात के अमरेली जिले के डिटला गाँव के किसानो ने दिखाई नई राह
किसान सन्मान निधि के पैसे किसानों ने #PMCaresFunds में #CoronaOutbreak के लिए किए अर्पण
डिटला सेवा सहकारी मंडली के अध्यक्ष की अनूठी पहल@mpamreli @icarindia @CMOGuj @DDNewsHindi @DDNewslive @PMOIndia #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/ClIsYzLOcA— DD News Gujarati (@DDNewsGujarati) April 9, 2020
Gujarat seeks GST compensation cess due from Centre
The Gujarat government has asked the Centre to release GST compensation cess of nearly Rs 5,000 crore due to it for over four months. Sources in the state finance department said that a representation has already been made before the concerned authority to release money as early as possible. In the last meeting of GST Council held on February 18th, the state government representatives had made an oral as well as a written representation to the concerned authorities for the release of funds, said a senior official requesting anonymity.
First Covid 19 patient of #Ahmedabad rural discharged from civil hospital today.
The warm welcome back is overwhelming!
Thanks to our #coronawarriors@CMOGuj @InfoGujarat @CollectorAhd @vnehra @GujHFWDept @ahmedabadmirror @AhmedabadPolice @timesofindia @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/QsGtqZWZDf— Arun Mahesh Babu (@ArunMaheshIAS) April 9, 2020
Following the implementation of Goods & Services Tax (GST) by the Centre, compensation cess is levied for making up for any shortfall in states’ revenue. The shortfall is calculated assuming a 14% annual growth in GST collections by states over the base year of 2015-16.
According to the official, the Centre released 50% compensation cess for October and since then there has been no payment made to Gujarat. It means payment is due since November 2019 till March 2020, said the sources.
Gujarat: Lioness gives birth to six cubs in Sakkarbaug Zoo pic.twitter.com/XWFTFlZbg4
— Gujarat Information (@InfoGujarat) April 9, 2020
To pay compensation dues to states, the central government has created a separate corpus by levying 2% cess on GST, informed the official, adding that currently around Rs 35,000 crore fund is lying in the corpus. The official also said that Gujarat is one of the few states with the higher collection of GST but looking at the current situation, it may hardly receive Rs 2,500 of the total due amount.
The officials further said that due to ongoing fight against COVID-19, not only Gujarat but many other states, including Kerala, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have also demanded the release of the due amount under GST compensation cess.
પેટલાદ નગરપાલિકાના કર્મચારીઓ દ્વારા કાટમાળમાં પડેલ ભંગાર માંથી ડિસઇન્ફેક્શન સેનેટાઇઝન મશીન બનાવવામાં આવ્યુ છે. ઉલ્લેખનીય છે કે અવાર-નવાર વેસ્ટ માંથી બેસ્ટ બનાવવાની ઘણી પ્રવૃતિઓ પેટલાદ નગરપાલિકા દ્વારા હાથ ધરવામાં આવી છે ત્યારે સંકટ સમયે આ પ્રવૃતિઓમાં વધુ એક પીંછુ ઉમેરાયુ છે. pic.twitter.com/H0odXmClB4
— Gujarat Information (@InfoGujarat) April 9, 2020
The Centre has a target to collect Rs 1 trillion in GST cess during the current financial year. The official said that the target was set before the spread of coronavirus pandemic, but now the situation has changed and it would be difficult to achieve the target set by the Centre as there would be a major drop in GST collections due to ongoing lockdown.
State will get 5.76 lakh mt of food grains till June
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Wednesday said it has doubled the supply of foodgrains to the state during the lockdown and the state will receive 5.76 lakh metric tonnes of food grains free of cost till June 2020 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY).
“In Gujarat, we have a storage capacity of 6.5 lakh metric tonnes that is full now. We are keeping this stock as a buffer and are calling around 12,000 metric tonnes of food grains from other states daily since the lockdown was announced. This is almost double the average 6,000 metric tonnes of foodgrains that used to be supplied daily to Gujarat,” said Aseem Chhabra, General Manager (Gujarat), FCI.
These foodgrains – wheat and rice – come from various states. Wheat is being supplied by Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, while rice is coming from Punjab and Haryana. The foodgrains are being transported to Gujarat through the Indian Railways, which is currently operating trains carrying freight.
The official said the foodgrains are being issued to the state government for distribution at an average of 12,000 MT per day wherein 600 trucks transport the stock from the 33 FCI depots across the state to 17,000 fair price shops. A staff of 1,500, including labourers, has been deployed in the state for transporting the stock.
“Total quota for Gujarat under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann yojana will be around 1.92 lakh metric tonnes per month,” Chhabra said adding 5.76 lakh metric tonnes of food grains will be sent to Gujarat till June.
During the lockdown period till April 7, 2020, Gujarat has already received 1.68 lakh metric tonnes has been supplied, the official added. When asked if the closed APMCs in Gujarat and other parts of the country will not have any adverse impact on the foodgrain supply chain, Chhabra said, “FCI has enough stocks to last 18 months, without a single grain being added. Secondly, Gujarat does not contribute heavily to the central pool of food grains.”
The Gujarat government said it will soon start distributing free rations to APL families in April. “During the cabinet meeting held today, it has been decided to extend the free rations to the remaining 60 lakh APL-1 families for April,” said Ashwini Kumar, secretary to chief minister Vijay Rupani. The free rations to these families include 10 kg wheat, 3kg rice, one kg dal and one kg of sugar.
So far 66 lakh families covered under the National Food Security Act were given free foodgrains by the Gujarat government from April 1. Then the state government gave rations to 3.4 lakh BPL families who were not covered under the NFSA and another 5 lakh families of migrant workers who are living in large cities and towns of the state, were also given free rations.
